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ShareMumbai: It's going to change the way you pick up a fork and tuck into your next meal, if the phenomenon that's taking the West by storm catches on like that back here.
Slow food -- the pleasure principle that's altering health habits everywhere -- aims to have you follow nature's way, avoiding food with chemicals and pesticides so you enrich your eating habits.
Founded in 1986 in Italy by writer Carlo Petrini, out of protest against the opening of a McDonald's near the Spanish Steps in Rome, the movement has now spread to 132 countries across five continents and has more than 100,000 members. But has Mumbai taken to it yet?
"I'm a great fan of slow food; it's been more like a way of life with me," enthuses executive chef Ananda Solomon of the Taj President, who is also part of the movement in Italy.
"It's about exposing you to the kind of produce that your region must grow, from eggs to poultry, vegetables, wine, cheese, everything, plus the manner in which that happens, about promoting local traditions as well as eating and buying right."
The key, he stresses, is to tap into many types of indigenously grown food. "I believe that is the way forward, that's why I get my eggs, vegetables and rice from Mumbai's outskirts -- Vasai, Virar and Boisar."
Foodie Rashmi Uday Singh is gung-ho on the food norm as well. "I first learnt about this movement almost 15 years ago when I visited the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Piedmonte, Italy. I think slow food does a fabulous job of bringing together pleasure and responsibility and focuses not just on great food and how it tastes but also where it came from."
While Mumbai might be sluggish to get onto the bandwagon with the city having India's only slow food partner -- a store in Andheri, chefand restaurateur Nikhil Chib explains that is so as people may be apprehensive of letting go of their traditions and trying something new.
"I wouldn't however say that slow cooking is the only way to make a healthy meal. Modern methods like stir frying and steaming are also key in maintaining the nutrients in a meal and keeping it healthy. Grilling also in fact is another form of slow cooking. A lot of places in India for example in the North East and in Kashmir use traditional methods of slow cooking," he informs.
